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Disclaimer
This information presented within this case is the responsibility of the writers alone. This document
cannot be used as a supporting source outside of VBCC Case Competition 2021 and may not be
publicly quoted without the written consent of the authors.
Many thanks to each team for participating. We hope that you enjoy the entire experience.

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 VINCOM MEGA MALL ROYAL CITY CASE STUDY 2021
Theme: Rejuvenate the Future of Retail Experience

Established in 2012, Vincom Retail is now the largest and fastest-growing retail developer, owner,
and operator in Vietnam. After 17 years of operating experience, the Company achieved 1.7 retail
gross floor area (GFA) million sqm in 80 shopping malls in 43 cities and provinces.

Figure 1: Key milestones in the development history of Vincom Retail

Vincom Retail has four distinct formats: Vincom Center, Vincom Mega Mall, Vincom Plaza, and
Vincom+. With a nationwide presence, Vincom malls provide a wide range of retail, dining,
cultural, and entertainment offerings and are the first to offer the latest consumer trends, making
them the most popular retail destinations for tenants and customers in Vietnam. Given its strong
market position, Vincom Retail's goal is to lead shopping malls with a presence across Vietnam to
pioneer in bringing shopping experiences from prestigious domestic and international brands.
Although the Covid 19 pandemic has caused an impact on the entire retail industry, including the
retail real estate segment, Vincom Retail still achieved a relatively good growth rate in 2020.
Vincom Mega Mall Royal City (VMMRC) was launched in 2013, was the first mega mall of
Vincom retail shopping chain. VMMRC is the largest retail area in the chain, located in the Royal
City urban complex, Hanoi, with a total GFA of around 200 thousand sqm. It is the first complex
of underground commercial centers in Vietnam that meets international standards with large
parking space It is labeled as a "miniature European City" in Hanoi and won "the best Mega Mall
in Vietnam" in 2014. This Mega Mall becomes one destination where many choices are available
to satisfy all customer needs. Organized under the slogan "All in One", Vincom Mega Mall Royal
City provides a wide range of travel, shopping, entertainment offerings where customers can
combine sightseeing, consuming, and family interaction in one visit. The Vincom Mega Mall
Royal City welcomes on average more than 35 thousand visitors/day. The main attractive factors

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of Vincom Mega Mall Royal City include a spacious shopping area, diverse choices of
entertainment, food, shopping experiences, and ale promotions. 70% of current visitors to Vincom
Mega Mall Royal City are under 35 years old and have an average income of below 15 million
VND per month. Most of them are young professionals. Based on market benchmarking, the NPS
(Net Promoter Score) index of Royal City is relatively excellent.
After eight years of operations, Vincom Mega Mall Royal City needs to maintain its attractiveness
as the number one exciting shopping place in Hanoi. Currently, the three primary purposes of
going to Mega Mall Royal City are only shopping in the supermarket, dining out with family or
friends, and watching movies. New attractions should be designed and introduced in adapting to
current market trends and addressing changes in customer needs/wants/preferences Meanwhile,
customers in surrounding areas have other newly opened destinations for shopping and
entertainment.
Detailed information about the VMMRC’s current tenant layout and promotional campaigns that
have been launched in 2019 and 2020 can be found in Appendix 1.
Due to the great effort of the Vietnamese government and the compliances by the Vietnamese
people, Vietnam has successfully overcome the spread-out of the pandemic. All shopping malls
and tenants are looking for solutions to increase footfalls and revenues by trade marketing and
promotional campaigns. The Vincom Retail leaders have been spending a great deal of effort to
develop a strategy to build VMMRC leading position in the Vincom shopping chain. They want
to rejuvenate this Mega Mall to become the “number one” place that initiates and spreads trends
to the targeted consumers.
Vincom leaders decided to involve students to assist with an innovative solution to achieve this
ambitious goal. Specifically, they ask students to focus their solution on addressing at least one of
the following aspects:
- Redesigning customer experience: Shopping malls today. Instead, malls must become a
social gathering place that provides a level of leisure and entertainment that can never be
satisfied online. Therefore, students are expected to propose an experience design solution
that can move Vincom Mega Mall Royal City away from providing commoditized
shopping experiences and toward offering unique experience values for young consumers.
Based on analyzing customer journey, students should identify existing pain points and
suggest a customer experience map with an authentic theme, some additional "cool"
factors, attractions, entertainment events, and engaging activities.
- Innovating tenant mix (i.e., the presence of stores/brands in the mega malls): Mega malls
today need to strategically rethink the types of stores/brands that consumers want to visit,
buy and enjoy. Anchor tenants that drive traffic remain essential. However, a new emphasis
on a curated mix of other popular brands and/or favorite stores among young consumers
adds a sense of novelty to the mall offering. Changes in tenant mix front can strengthen the
authenticity of Vincom Mega Mall Royal City. Also, the design of small temporary,
flexible spaces that can accommodate different stores over time (e.g., pop-up stores,
showroom spaces, and kiosks) provides customers with a sense of the unexpected and give
them a reason to treasure hunt. Students are expected to study and propose an appropriate

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 tenant mix that could attract more young people under 35 to visit and spend money at
Vincom Mega Mall Royal City.
- Digital transformation of retail experience: Shopping malls today are digital
technologies to take the shopping experience to the next level. Mall players are
experimenting with a variety of different technologies and new e-business models. Some
examples include (1) face recognition, location-based mobile ads, and beacons to identify
and establish targeted contact with repeat customers; (2) social media to establish a direct
relationship with customers that goes beyond each visit to the mall, while allowing malls
to collect precious information about customers; (3) mobile apps to guide directions,
guidance and suggestions for visitors, etc. Shopping malls also venture into e-commerce
by offering a complete virtual online mall (later a mobile app). Students could examine the
opportunities brought by the digital transformation of retail and suggest an appropriate
digitalization solution for Vincom Mega Mall Royal City.
The Management Board of VCMMRC expect students to develop an action plan with the
following steps:
(1) Mega Mall analysis: Students start by analysing the market position, development, and
positioning strategy of Vincom Mega Mall Royal City. Convincing and evidence-based
criticism on the current positioning of Vincom Mega Mall Royal City should be provided.
(2) Catchment & customer analysis: Students should investigate the selected target market
living in the catchment area of Vincom Mega Mall Royal City and create a customer profile
with valuable insights into customer wants/needs/preferences/tastes.
(3) Customer experience analysis: Students are encouraged to visit Vincom Mega Mall
Royal City (if possible) to experience customers' current pain points and identify possible
delight points. Customer interviews or field observations are much appreciated to support
their analysis.
(4) BIG ACTIONABLE IDEA: The next step is to propose a "big idea" (i.e., game-changing
strategy) for Vincom Royal City to redesign customer shopping experience or innovate
tenant mix or rebrand the mega mall, or strategically digitalizing mall operations.
(5) ACTION PLAN: The final step is to develop an action plan for implementing the "big
idea" (what, when, where, how, who, and budget).
Before solving the case, students are recommended to read the additional information of the retail
industry and mega trends in the retail industry around the world.

Appendix 1: VCMMRC layout and tenants

Appendix 2: Promotional campaigns in 2019 and 2020

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Appendix 1: VMMRC Layout and Tenants
See the file in the Folder (LINK here)

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Appendix 2: Reviews on Marketing Activities in 2019 and 2020
In 2019

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In 2020

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--The End--

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